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Home , American Football League, Brandon Chillar, Dallas Clark, Super Bowl, Super Bowl I, Super Bowl XLI

America’s Top Winter Game

Which team will hold up the ? The Vince this year is still an open question (Photo AP Images)

On February 6, 2011 the Cowboys in Arling- but that changed in 1987 when my hometown team ton, will host the XLV Super Bowl in American the Giants made it to the Super Bowl. I history. told my wife that year that the kids were on their own and to only come and get me if they were hurt. I had Zoom asked John Gallo, a great no voice for 3 days after that game because I yelled fan, what the game means to him. On pages 2-3 John so much during the game and had similar results in shares his thoughts on the Super Bowl. 1991, 2000 and 2008 when the Giants were in the Super Bowl. In other years, the party is part foot- The Super Bowl has become a large presence on the and part eating. In keeping with tradition, I bring American social scene. What does it mean to me? I donuts and pastries as part of the extensive dessert have been lucky, as a friend of mine has hosted a Su- offering at the party. per Bowl party every year since 1984. Back then my daughters were 6, 3 and 1 year of age and the Super Bowl was a combination of watching a football game Useful link: and feeding or changing a child. I hate to admit it, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Football_(American) In this issue: Super Bowl Zoom in on America On a Super Bowl Tour

(clockwise from the top left): India- napolis Colts against the Ravens in Baltimore on January 13, 2007; The Colts defense looks on against the Patriots during the AFC football game; India- napolis Colts tight end Clark turns up field after catching a pass against the ; The Trophy; the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima is reenacted before the singing of the national anthem prior to the Super Bowl XLI football game; tickets for Super Bowl XLI are pictured in on January 25, 2007 (Photos AP Images)

When It Is Played as well as cities which had NFL teams such as New York, and Dallas. Play began The Super Bowl has become a unique American ex- in 1960. Things were tough in the early days as the perience. Played in the depth of winter, it gives people league did not catch on right away. At times payrolls an excuse to go out and have a party. The amount of were barely met and attendance was low. The style food eaten on is second only to of play in the new AFL was more exciting than the Thanksgiving. The next Super Bowl, the champion- old NFL and as a result, the new league was able ship of the professional , to get a contract from NBC. This enabled will be played on February 6, 2011 in Arlington Texas, the league to show off its product to fans across the just outside Dallas. country and more importantly enabled the league to sign players out of college away from the old league. A Little History By 1966 it became apparent that the AFL was here to stay but still was not strong enough to overtake How did the Super Bowl come to be such a major the old NFL. Thus talks to merge the two leagues event? Our story starts in the late 1950s when the Na- started and an agreement was reached in 1966 to tional Football League (NFL) was growing in popular- fully merge in 1970 and to play a championship game ity. While baseball continued to be the national game, between the 2 league winners starting in 1967. football’s popularity grew as a result of increased ex- posure on television. In 1959 a group of men (sorry The Origins of the Name ladies), generally from places which did not have foot- ball teams, applied to join the existing 16 teams of the So began what we now know as the Super Bowl. NFL. The league turned them down. These vision- Back in 1967 though, the name of this game was ary men then decided to take a risk and form a new the – American Football league called the American Football League (AFL). League Championship Game. This name was very Franchises were established in cities which had no cumbersome. One of the founders of the AFL was teams such as , Buffalo, Oakland, and . One day he saw his child playing with a Zoom page 2 very bouncy ball called a Super Ball. Mr. Hunt came up with the idea to call the new championship game The Super Bowl. As they say, the rest is history.

Watched by Every Third American

Over these past 40 years or so football has grown tremendously in popularity, and interest in The Super Bowl has grown accordingly. The 2010 game was viewed by about 106 million Americans, the most of any television show in history. Since the network can promise advertisers a very large audience, they can charge a high price and in 2010 the cost was $3 mil- lion for 30 seconds of time on The Super Bowl. For the , artists such as Paul McCartney, and have per- formed. About $80 million was wagered in Las Vegas on the 2010 Super Bowl. As a side note, there is a legend, disputed by some people, that water works’ personnel in many cities can detect a drop in wa- ter pressure during Super Bowl halftime when many people flush toilets at nearly the same time.

Click to Listen Text John Gallo (top): (bottom): Dolphin Stadiumin Miami (Photos AP Images) Football Terms and Rules Like in every team sport, it needs some time and time. If scores are tied, the so called sudden-death watching and/or playing to become familiar with the of 15 minutes is added. The teams are en- rules of American football. The words below followed titled to three time-outs. by a short description of the game might help those who have not been very familiar with the game yet: The aim of the game is to advance the ball towards, and finally to the opposition’s for which a a down - a chance for a team to advance the ball, touchdown is scored. The players run until the ball ending when the ball carrier is tackled or the ball be- is tackled or throw the ball down the field to a team comes out of play. A team must advance at least ten mate. yards in a series of four downs in order to keep pos- session The most fundamental part of the game are downs. The offensive team moves the ball forward and has to tackle - stop the forward progress of the ball car- 4 downs to gain ten yards. If the team manages to rier by forcing them to the ground advance at least 10 yards within the four downs, an- other first down is earned with four more chances to to the ball - 1. (of an offensive team) turn pos- go a further 10 yards. If the team is not successful session over to the defensive team by punting the in moving 10 yards within four downs, possession is ball after failing to make a first down surrendered. 2. kick the ball after it is dropped from the hands and before it reaches the ground The most important in scoring apart from 6-point touchdowns are field goals that earn the team three a touchdown - a six-point score made by carrying or points. An extra point can be earned by kicking the passing the ball into the end zone of the opposing ball through the uprights after a touchdown. If the side team takes the ball again into the end zone, another (from the New Oxford American Dictionary) two points are gained. If the offensive team is tack- led with the ball in their own end zone, the defensive There are two teams of 11 players each. The game team earns two points. lasts four 15-minute quarters and a 12-minute half- Zoom page 3 Activity Page Win a Prize! Exercise 1 The texts below come from America.gov article featuring the only JANUARY 2011 CONTEST player of South Asian descent in the NFL today, of Green Bay Pack- ers. Some words have been removed. Work in pairs. While you are reading the text In 2010 Super Bowl had: about the footballer, the other student should read about the team. Fill in the blanks 1. over 100 million viewers in your text with one appropriate word. Then check your answers with the key or the 2. over 200 million viewers original article. Try to remember some facts from your text. Then tell the other student 3. almost 300 million viewers about your text and listen to his or her account. Ask and answer questions.

Send the answer Brandon Chillar - an Indian-American Player (with your address) to: “The Indian side of my family is very proud of what I’m doing,” he [Brandon Chillar] [email protected] commented in a 2009 .(1). with ESPN. Chillar, who is 1.9 me- ters, 108 .(2). (6 feet, 3 inches, 237 pounds), is starting his seventh professional , playing first with the St. Louis Rams and now the Packers, located in Deadline: February 5 Green Bay, . In the first .(3). of the season, a win over the Philadelphia Win a Prize! Eagles September 12, he had seven tackles.(...) Chillar’s father, Ram, immigrated to the when he was 18, leaving a small town near New Delhi, India. The answer to the December (Chillar’s mother is of Irish-Italian .(4). .) In classic immigrant pattern, Ram Chillar contest was: worked his way from a car wash .(5). car salesman, and eventually bought a car The Prime Minister dealership. Today, he owns a 7-Eleven grocery outlet, part of a chain of franchise stores that are ubiquitous throughout the United States. In many ways., Brandon Thank you for participating Chillar has followed a typical .(6). to becoming a football professional — he ex-

celled as an athlete in . school and college before joining the NFL through its The winners are: .(7) annual “” of .(8). players. “My father didn’t know about football — he learned Justyna from Krakow, Ag- as I played,” Chillar said in a 2010 webcast. Despite any concerns with safety, nieszka from Dąbrowa Gór- both parents could see how football channeled their son’s energy. “Football taught nicza, Sebastian from discipline and teamwork and so many good things,” he added. As a kid playing Poczesna and Chrystian from sports, Chillar said, all he wanted to do was fit in. “As I’ve gotten .(9)., I’ve gotten Stargard Szczeciński a new respect for my dad and his history. I’ve also learned more and more about my Indian heritage.” Chillar accepts that his Indian background can make him an CONGRATULATIONS object of interest as an NFL player. “Stereotypes are made to be broken,” he ob- The prizes will be sent to you served in an interview with America.gov. “For me, I let my desire and commitment by mail. carry me to my goal.”

The from Green Bay, Wisconsin The Green Bay Packers have a remarkable history. The team, named for a lo- cal company that first donated uniforms, has .(1). professionally since 1921 for a Zoom is online at community that still numbers little more .(2). 100,000 — against teams from .(3). www.usinfo.pl/zoom/ metropolitan centers like New York, , Boston and Los Angeles. The Pack- ers also remain the .(4). publicly owned team in the NFL — unlike most other .(5)., Free subscription which have a single individual or corporate owner. Nevertheless, Green Bay has Write to: [email protected] compiled one of the finest records in the sport. The Packers have .(6). 12 NFL — more than any other team — and three .(7). Bowls. As a .(8)., Contact us at Green Bay has a strong following across the Midwest and, indeed, throughout the [email protected] .(9).. Green Bay rose to dominance in the 1960s under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, when the team won a series of league championship games (including American Information the “Ice Bowl”), along with the first two Super Bowls. After his death in 1970, the Resource Center Super Bowl Championship trophy was renamed the Lombardi Trophy. Krakow Konsulat Generalny USA the November cover has been ul. Stolarska 9, 31-043 Krakow chosen as the nicest Zoom in on [email protected] America cover in 2010 The winners are: Oskar from Kra- Become a fan of Zoom in on America on Facebook kow, Paweł from Jaśliska and Ola page 4